Coinage in the Hellenistic Period
MúzeumCafé 12.
The Hellenistic period was an age of monarchies. The commanders and former associates of Alexander the Great (336-323 B.C.) divided his short-lived empire during long and bloody battles, while creating the foundations of a new age. At the same time the world expanded and the borders of Hellenic culture far exceeded the Mediterranean. The young king, the future Alexander the Great, extended Greek civilisation to the valley of the River Indus. It is difficult to say whether his desire for discovery and adventure as well as thirst for knowledge was stronger than his wish for power. Enormous riches accumulated in the new kingdoms and minting conformed to the changed world. The monarchs of the empire had coins minted in their own names and with their portraits, sometimes with the image of the dynasty founder. It is disputed whether Alexander’s silver and bronze coins showing Heracles wearing a lion skin headdress can be regarded as the king’s portrait. There is a similarity, but he arguably didn’t want his own image minted since his Macedonian-Greek subjects barely tolerated his despotic manifestations. After conquering the Persian Empire he even expected to be honoured as the Achaemenid kings’ successor. Nevertheless, it is sure that later Alexander was seen in Heracles’s image. The ‘dumping’ of the period’s mintage can be seen in collections such as that of the Hungarian National Museum. Earlier large private collections included several top coins of the Hellenistic Age. At the beginning of the 20th century official Hungarian cultural policy aimed at compiling a universal coin collection and large sums were allocated for the purchase of valuable ancient Greek coins.